


its time to go

by anissa_qiaolian



Series: The Book of ThunderQuake [7]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Black Lightning (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-20 05:24:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20670026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anissa_qiaolian/pseuds/anissa_qiaolian
Summary: In which Daisy reflects on her place and says goodbye to the Pierces





	its time to go

Daisy knew she had to leave.

Because despite her assurances, despite her anger and well-reasoned mistrust towards some members of her team, she couldn’t just _leave. _Not when Coulson…. Not when poor May, who was still trying to take care of everyone except herself, needed her. Came all the way to a town she never heard of, faced a suspicious stranger with a very troubled and confusing past (Daisy vets her demons before hiding out in their shops and helping them fight crime, okay) to find _her. _

May was pretty much the only true friend she had left.

And dammit, she just couldn’t stay away from the only family she’s ever known. She’s been monitoring all of them, in any way she can since the day she left. Mack was calling her every week with updates.

Simmons was losing it in space.

May was pretending to have it under control.

Yoyo…actually, Mack didn’t mention her much which made her all more fearful of the breakup she could sense coming before she took off. But apparently, she was doing well. That was more than she could say about herself, to be honest. And no amount of pretending and sexing and vigilante-ing and hair dye could change that.

Daisy Louise Johnson was _not fine. _She needed to go home, now. She needed to see her family.

With these thoughts in her head, she started packing what little belongings she had into her small black bag.

That’s when Jennifer walked in.

“Hey Jen”, Daisy greeted tiredly. Jennifer just stared at her with narrowed eyes, her left hand gripping her cell phone just a little too tightly. Her lips pulled into a grimace.

Daisy was about to question the girl about her odd behavior before she was cut off.

“I didn’t know you were the ‘toot it and boot it’ type, _Quake”, _she said with disgust. “But damn if I expected better.”

“Jennifer, what are you –“

“ – Just stop it, Daisy! I heard you and Anissa! I heard Uncle Gambi say some Agent lady came to get you. What happened to not belonging? Finding yourself away from SHIELD, or whatever the hell else you came here to do? Besides my sister?”

Daisy swallowed thickly and cast her eyes downward. “Jen. I…I’m sorry, but…SHIELD is my home. I have to go back. I can’t leave things this way, not after…” she shook her head and trailed off.

Fuck! How could she explain to Jen that SHIELD wasn’t perfect, but it was everything. Her family, her team, _was everything? _

She closed her eyes and blew a deep breath from her nose. She knew it as a calming gesture, something May taught her early on to help center her nerves and ground her to her surroundings.

But Jennifer didn’t see it that way. How could she; she didn’t know. So she rounded on Daisy with hardened eyes.

“Oh I’m sorry, Quake, am I boring you? I was just wondering how the fuck you can leave things with _us _like this, but you apparently can’t do that for SHIELD? Is getting treated like shit by your bullshit ‘family’ that important to you!?”

“Hey!” Daisy’s head snapped up. Her voice raised a few octaves without even meaning to and she had to psychically clamp down on the vibrations inside her that threatened to shake the foundations of the entire house. She forced herself to calm down before opening her mouth to speak again. “Jen,” she pleaded, “I am so, sorry for giving you the wrong impression but, I was never going to stay in Freeland long-term. Honestly I didn’t even mean to come here in the first place. I was passing through and then I met your wonderful family, your amazing sister, and _you. _This family is _amazing, _Jen. Seriously. And I am so lucky to have met you guys. You were lucky enough to be born into a family that loves you and values you for exactly who you are. And it’s a good thing, too, because you’re pretty damn special.”

Daisy wiped a tear from Jennifer’s cheek as her lip trembled. She held the girl’s face in her hand. “And treating you like anything less than the superhero you are would be fucking crime. Do you love this family, Jennifer?”  


She snorted through her sobs. “Of course. They’re hella annoying sometimes, but they’re still mine, you know?”

Daisy nodded and sat them down on the bed. She brushed away a strand of dark hair that had fallen in front of the girl’s face. “Yeah. I do know. Because that’s what SHIELD is for me. And despite everything a family always looks out for each other and they never, ever leave.” She smiled.

“That’s what you Pierces taught me.”

Jennifer picked at her pink acrylic nails. She looked up Daisy through wet lashes. “What if – what if your family isn’t good for you?”

Daisy looked down. There were only three instances where she thought SHIELD wasn’t good for her, and the first one was way before she had even began to know the ragtag team of heroes that would eventually become her family.

She hated Fitz for what he did to her, and at first thought the second version of him that was lost in space somewhere was cheating, a reset button for someone who “died” just to escape accountability.

But then she realized that is was a second chance. Not just for him but her, too. For Simmons. For Mack, who was also on not-so-good terms with him when he sacrificed himself last spring.

Her heart ached for Coulson, whose letter she still hasn’t read since he took off with May to Tahiti, a magical place where romanced happen, but not magical enough to bring back the dead so they could say goodbye to the rest of their loved ones.

Not this time.

Was SHIELD good for her? Was _she _good for _them? _A year and a half ago she’d been so convinced that the answer was no, so unwilling to even entertain the possibility that people wanted her around for an extended period of time, ever.

But the Pierces loved so beautifully, they believed in each other, and they always trusted each other to _come home, _even if they didn’t always agree with the routes they drove to get there.

“I trust them more than anything, kiddo. I pray to fucking God that that’s enough.”

**

They had all gathered in the driveway to say goodbye to Daisy.

Lynn had prepared her enough food for three days at least, stuffed into neat little Tupperware boxes with two sets of plastic silverware attached. Jefferson offered to take her to the airport or wherever else she needed to go. She declined and Anissa make a joke about spies never revealing their secret bases without having to kill you afterward. Daisy assured them it wasn’t that serious (but Anissa did have a point about giving away the location of their base to ‘civilians’, _if _the two electrifying heroes could even count as such) and Jennifer told her to change her hair brown again.

“You gotta embrace your natural crown, Daisy”, Jen said, teasing her with a smile. “At least that’s what Harriet over there would say.”

Daisy smirked. “And what would you say, Jennifer Pierce?”

Jen studied her closely for a second before replying: “the purple can stay, I guess. But do an ombre instead of the streaks, it’ll look less Party City-ish. And no more blonde, unless its highlights!”

The rest of the family chafed at Jennifer’s brashness, but Daisy laughed and gave her a hug and a two finger salute. “Copy that, Agent Pierce.”

Anissa walked up to her at last. “Hey.”

Daisy cast her eyes downward, feeling shy and guilty suddenly.

“Listen, I know this comes off a certain way, with what we did, and –“

Anissa held up a hand and she stopped rambling. “You know, I used to never be into relationships. Like, there was a commitment-phobe, and then there was _me. _I was fucked up, Daisy. The last girl I dated before Grace, we’d had sex countless numbers of times and she was only at my house three times. We went on one date. The same night I broke up with her. I know this all sounds really…shit, I don’t even know – dysfunctional, I guess? But that was me. Until Grace.

“All I need from you, Daisy Johnson, is one thing.” She paused. Daisy looked at her apt attention, the earnest look on her face begging Anissa to go on. She took a shaky breath as her eyes watered.

“If you see her,” she held up her lock screen and showed Daisy a picture of a sweet looking young Asian woman with dark hair and a humorous sparkle in her eye. A colorful mosaic of tattoos swirled up and down her arms, both of which were wrapped protectively around Anissa. “tell her I love her, and to please, _please _be careful and happy wherever she is.”

She took Anissa’s hand. “It sounds like you really care about Grace.”

Anissa nodded as another tear slid plainly down her cheek. “I do. She’s the first girl I’ve ever been in love with, and I just need her to be safe so badly, even if I know she’s not with me. I know it’s a longshot but…I don’t think I can rest until I know she’s okay.”

Daisy would do it, for Anissa.

She didn’t know how yet, but she would find Anissa Pierce’s disappeared girlfriend and bring them back together, while she was on her way back to her family. She tried to convince herself that it was just guilt over leaving them compelling her to do this, but a fondness tugged her heart telling her this was the right thing to do.

She may not have been in love with Anissa, but she’d grown very fond of her in just one short week, and she had to make her appearance in their lives mean something.

But Daisy never would consider what proven itself to be true since the moment SHIELD found her in a van and brought her into their world.

Her life meant something.

Her beliefs spurned change.

Her attitude brought people together.

And her inhuman abilities didn’t define her ability to always save the world. She had always done that on her own, quakes or no quakes.

And now she was off to save Grace Choi from herself.


End file.
